This blog is posted from a now retired 33 year CAW (now UNIFOR) member. The purpose of this blog is to allow others to see the perspective of the average worker, rather than the views of the Union Leadership If you have any concerns or comments on this blog, contact me at Email:paulsblues45@hotmail.com
On Twitter: @PaulinAjax

Monday, February 22, 2010

Proof Kevin Page Is An Idiot

"It's a good thing most Canadians are fixated on the Vancouver Olympics right now.

Otherwise we'd have to think about Canada's horrendous budgetary deficit.

Then along comes Kevin Page and wakes us up in the midst of our Olympic euphoria.

Page, Canada's parliamentary budget chief, is predicting a deficit crisis in Canada as our population ages.

His message? Without a strong plan including immediate spending cuts and massive hikes in taxes, we're in deep doo doo.

The Fiscal Sustainability Report released Thursday by Page says without action now -- not 10 years from now -- the deficit will rise to 100% of GDP by 2050-51 from 33.8% of GDP in 2013-14. And if left unchecked, Canada could be running an annual deficit of four times the size of the economy by 2084-85, the report says."

Wow. This guy has some kind of supernatural ability to see 40 years into the future. He must know in his crystal ball what interest rates will be for that period. Imagine being able to predict economic growth 40 years into the future. Or Canada's GDP 40 years into the future. He also apparently knows what will be in the Canada Pension Plan fund, the rates of unemployment for the next 40 years, etc.

2084-2085? Come on, this guy has jumped the shark so bad from being useful and doing his job to being a partisan hack it's beyond the funny stage. Perhaps he hasn't noticed that most economists have upgraded the prospects for Canada's economy and growth this year, which already alters their numbers put out just months ago.

12 comments:

Page is correct, we will face a problem with an aging demographic and how to support it. That's not news. Economists and a goodly portion pf the public has known this for years. But Mr. Page, or perhaps the media exaggeration of his comments, is trying to blow this thing into another global warming farce. Adjustments will have to be made, but not immediate massive tax increases or spending cuts. This guy must be a Liberal. All I ever hear out of his mouth is how this program is underfunded, or this new program must be instituted with huge expenditures. I'd like to see his analysis of the Liberals Daycare program. I am sure he would suggest that, rather than scrapping the whole idea, he would want more money immediately to make it work.How about this Mr. Page: until such time as this country has adjusted to the realities of an older population and has the costs under control, we have a moratorium on ANY new social programs.

Has he not been paying attention to the dire predictions of gore/suzuki made and are going down the drain daily. Gee no sea level raising to drown us all. Guess we could get ahead of the curve and call it pagegate.

"The only idiot here is the one who doesn't even care that everything Page has predicted has come to pass."

Go educate yourself on Page's past predictions. He's adjusted his figures as much as every other economist and finance minister. His predictions for economic growth this year are below half what every economist is now predicting.

To think he can predict 40-75 years into the future with accuracy is a farce.

Page is an idiot and with each report he makes looks like a hysterical school girl. To the Globe's credit this morning they have a piece saying forecasts are just forecasts and really just give us a glimpse into the future but should not be taken as the gospel. However, the Globe and other media outlets are quick to publish anything Page publishes as a way to beat the government suggesting he is usually right and the government is wrong. I wouldn't give this guy another dime. We have a finance dept with hundreds of people working in it. If they can't do the job then we are in big trouble. Page's dept is redundant.

Paul, I was wondering what use Mr. Page is myself when I read his comments. My question would be, "If a Liberal government got in, would he then turn around and start playing THEIR devil's advocate? Screaming about deficits and complaining about too much spending and programs that are overfunded?" Just wondering.